NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–MTV, jackassworld.com and media technology company Big Stage Entertainment today launched the “Be A jackass” campaign (http://www.jackassworld.com/pages/big-stage) where fans of the hit MTV show can digitally impose their own recognizable face on Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O and others from the jackass gang as they perform the outrageous stunts that made them legendary. The free promotion lets fans create life-like 3-D clones of themselves, called @ctors, that instantly replace the faces of their favorite jackass stars in videos and photos that can be shared via email, Web site embeds and social media. The “Be A jackass” campaign is powered by Big Stage Entertainment’s BackStage product, which offers Big Stage Entertainment’s 3-D face modeling technology to clients and partners for creation of personalized interactive experiences under their own brands.

“For years people have stopped me in the streets to ask if they can be on jackass. Well, thanks to the new Big Stage application on jackassworld, they can!!” said Johnny Knoxville, star of MTV’s jackass. “That’s right you can swallow and puke back up a goldfish or go elbow deep in a cow just like me and the boys!”

Whether being pelted by paintballs or abused by a horde of pint-sized playground rugrats, jackass fans can, for the first time, put themselves into some of the show’s most memorable and shocking scenes. To become a virtual jackass star, fans quickly create their realistic 3-D @ctors on http://www.jackassworld.com/pages/big-stage from a few digital photos uploaded to the site. They can then get into videos of stunts that would truly make their parents proud, and share the delightful disgrace with friends through a number of pass-along tools on the site.

“For years, MTV has insisted that fans of jackass ‘not to try these stunts at home,’” said David Gale, Executive Vice President of MTV New Media. “Finally, we can let them try jackass stunts right from the comfort of their own homes … virtually, of course. The audience that loves their jackass also loves technology, and we are pleased to bring them a groundbreaking (as opposed to a neck-breaking) way to combine those two passions.”

“MTV’s partnership with Big Stage Entertainment showcases their commitment to connecting with audiences through innovative and immersive digital experiences,” said Jon Kraft, Co-founder and COO of Big Stage Entertainment. “As one of the first to companies to offer our new BackStage technology, MTV clearly recognizes the appeal that campaigns like “Be A jackass” have among its tech-savvy, irreverent fan base, as well as the unprecedented levels of viewer engagement that BackStage experiences offer their brand.”

By allowing the audience to be the “star” in connected content, Big Stage Entertainment’s BackStage product lets clients create branded media experiences and viral campaigns that drive reach, relevance and engagement. BackStage allows visitors to a brand’s website to create animated 3-D versions of themselves, called @ctors. The @ctor can then be instantly accessorized with hairstyles, eyeglasses, shirts, hats, and more, and inserted into content such as video clips, commercials, trailers, games, motion comics and posters. The content can then be shared with friends, family and colleagues through email, embeds and social networking tools.

About MTV:
MTV is the dynamic, vibrant experiment at the intersection of music, creativity and youth culture. For over 27 years, MTV has evolved, challenged the norm, and detonated boundaries—giving each new generation a creative outlet and voice that entertains, informs and unites on every platform and screen. On-air, MTV is the number one rated full-day ad-supported cable network for P12-24. Online, MTV.com grew a healthy +9% from 1Q09, averaging 23.6M unique visitors for the second quarter of 2009. The site continues to grow video content streams, up significantly from 1Q09 by +15%, generating a whopping 262.2M streams in Q209, a +7% increase from the same time period last year. And MTV’s successful sibling networks MTV2, mtvU and MTV Tr3s each deliver unprecedented customized content, super-serving music fans, college students and young American Latinos like no one else. MTV is part of MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA – News, VIA.B – News), one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Wanna know more? Come on in… http://www.mtvpress.com.

About jackassworld.com:
jackassworld.com is the definitive place on the Interweb for you and your dumb little buddies to hang out, screw around, and keep in touch with all the stupid and silly things happening in the world of jackass and Dickhouse Entertainment (including Nitro Circus, Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory, Steve-O: Demise and Rise, and The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia). The website features daily updates consisting of all-new original video content, behind-the-scenes clips, photos, articles, interviews, farts, naughtiness, exclusive merchandise, live webcasts, nonsense, music, and total bullcrap from the jackass cast and crew, as well as an extensive archive of all the jackass, Wildboyz, and Nitro Circus television shows and specials with never-before-seen and previously unreleased material. Users are also able to join the jackassworld community and interact with the cast, crew, and other community members in previously unimaginable ways. Suck it.

About Big Stage Entertainment, Inc.
Big Stage Entertainment, Inc. is a media technology company that enables the projection of self into digital life. With Big Stage Entertainment products and services, consumers can create a photorealistic, 3-D, animated @ctor to represent themselves in virtual worlds, video games, video clips and online communities. Through its PortableYou program, Big Stage Entertainment enables third parties to seamlessly integrate its 3-D facial modeling system into video games, virtual worlds, Web sites, mobile apps, kiosk-based systems and more to personalize everything from entertainment to communications. At BigStage.com, anyone can generate a free, animated 3-D @ctor from a few digital photos and save it to use in any Big Stage-enabled media. Headquartered in Sherman Oaks, CA, Big Stage Entertainment investors include Mission Ventures, Selby Ventures and Tech Coast Angels. For more information, please visit http://www.bigstage.biz.